Small Axe is Here to Stay

And speaking of "my favorite directors" I saw this new photo of Steve McQueen the other day and it took me a moment to even recognize him -- dude is hella skinny! Anyway that aside it's a big day for those of us who love his work -- his series of 2020 short-films titled Small Axe are hitting Criterion in box-set form today! You can buy the set right here -- and Amazon has it cheap too, just 70 bucks right now. I somehow still haven't done a list of my favorite movies for 2020 but I'd have to figure out how to fit Small Axe in there if/when I did/do -- whether it be by individual film or all in one big chunk, it belongs. An absolute masterpiece.

In related news -- have any of you watched Uprising, his three-part  documentary series about three different events in 1981 London, yet? Shamefully I keep forgetting to watch even though it's on Prime Video. Gonna send myself a reminder for this weekend. Next up for McQueen is the film Blitz, about you guessed it the blitz bombings of London during WWII -- it stars Saorsie Ronan and Harris Dickinson, among many others (no Michael Fassbender though, which makes me sad -- I feel like they must've had a falling out). And McQueen also has a WWII doc called Occupied City coming out soon as well, about Amsterdam's Nazi occupation. I guess he really got into World War II during the pandemic. Here's a photo of Saorsie looking killer in period garb on the set of Blitz:

The Big Country

Two weeks ago I shared with y'all a link to the annual Nashville Scene Film Poll, which I participated in and which had some quotes about the movie year that was 2020 -- well if you'd like a little more from me and my poll-collaborators a bonus batch of answers has been dropped over here. One of the questions was "What 2020 film do you wish you'd seen on the big screen?" and I was surprised by my own answer, Chloé Zhao's Nomadland. I wasn't surprised in a bad way -- I agree with myself, funny that -- I just would think I'd normally answer something more bombastic. I must've been in a mood.

But that reminds me -- I never wrote a review of Nomadland! And I probably never will! Not with Sundance starting on Thursday anyway. So just let me say this movie will most definitely be in my Top 10 of 2020, I really love it, and you should find time for it. It's so good it wiped Frances McDormand's "Three Billboards" slate clean -- that's how good it is. And I'm not just saying that because they sent me a copy of that IMAX poster in the mail last week, either. How cheap do you think I am? (Don't answer that.)

The News Outta Nashville

I can't recall how many years I've been participating in my pal Jason Shawhan's annual fill poll for Nashville Scene but it's been a few and it's always a good read -- and who doesn't need good things to look forward to these days? So here's a good damn thing -- the 2020 poll went up today, feating a Top 25 list of films assembled from faves from me and dozens upon dozes of other critics, and you should check it out! I suppose that shot of John Magaro above gives away what our #1 movie was (or it does now that I said it does anyway) but there are flavors for every palate on the menu. Oh and Jason also asked us an assortment of cinema-related queries, about the year that was and the year ahead, so bonus!

Good Morning, World

This one's kind of left over from last week when I shared with you The Film Experience's list of 2020's greatest "Thirst Traps" but who wants to keep Thirstiness contained to one day anyway? Nobody but no how that's who. So I wrote a little thing about the actor Hu Ge in the terrific flick The Wild Goose Lake for that piece, and lo then I found this photo-shoot (via). It's like we were meant to be. Me & HG I mean. (Call me, HG.) Everybody else, hit the jump for the rest, which involves the gratuitous scrubbing of teeth and turtles...

2020 Boileth Over

Just now looking at the clock and realizing it's far too late in the day for me to drink the coffee I'd need to sound like an interesting person for the next few hours and also then fall asleep on time tonight, so we'll make due I suppose by just sharing some links to things I keep forgetting to link to! The Film Experience is in the middle of doing a "Year in Review" for 2020 and we contributors to that site were called upon to offer our never-humble opinions. So far there are two categories in which you can read some rambling from yours truly...

... right here are our picks for the "Best On-Screen Chemistry" of the year, and right here are our picks for the "Thirst Traps" of 2020. You'll no doubt hear more from me on these subjects whenever I get around to my "Golden Trousers" awards -- you know, months from now -- so here's a sneak peek of things I thought of 2020! Besides the given and noted "Fuck you, 2020" I mean. Twasn't all rotten...

Bloody Bloody Bacurau

.

One of the movies I've been trying to figure out the year for as of late so I can place it either in my 2019 list of favorite movies or save it for 2020's is Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho's film Bacurau from Brazil, which I saw at the New York Film Festival this past September -- I reviewed it right here. And if it's not immediately clear by the act of me worrying which year it goes in on a favorites list, I fucking loved it. 

It's about a quirky town called Bacurau in the middle of nowhere that gets invaded by a bunch of "foreign adversaries" who've been hired by the government to clear the land -- it's an insanely bloody genre blast that's at the same time deeply political; it's smart, it's insane, it's angry as fuck and therefore perfect for our times, and it stars Udo Kier and Sonia Braga. Literally everything. 

Anyway as seen up top the poster's just been released (via) as well as a US release date -- Bacurau will hit the US on March 6th. So, to work my way back to the start, I am saving it for my 2020 list I guess. Here's a trailer that came out awhile back:

.